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Authors: William W. Johnstone
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Fairfax Court House.
Dupree grinned. âThe Yankees are takinâ the bait, Major. It wonât be long now.â
Jamie looked toward a black spiral of smoke. âBeauregardâs set the Orange and Alexandria Railroad Bridge on fire. Fall back, boys.â
Beauregard had given orders to his troops at Fairfax Court House to leave food still cooking on the fires, giving the Yankees the impression they were so frightened they had fled without eating. The Union soldiers were jubilant. They ate the hot food and sang victorious songs with their coffee. Their jubilation was to be short-lived.
The Union general, McDowell, was giving conflicting orders to his commanders and being forced to rethink his strategy every hour or so. Nothing was working out as he had planned. He had reached Fairfax Court House expecting to find another of his generals, Heintzelman, waiting for him. But now he had no idea where General Heinzelman might be (Heinzelman and his men had been slowed down to a crawl by the dense brush and poor roads). McDowell was also beginning to suspect a trap. He had just learned that Centerville had been abandoned by the Rebels and also that all along the Rebel line the Confederates were pulling back. That seemed very odd to him.
McDowell ordered another of his generals, Dan Tyler, to ride through Centerville at first light to check out the situation. And McDowell also gave him firm orders not to engage the enemyâjust check it out and report back with his findings.
Jamie and his two companies of Marauders had pulled back as ordered and were cooling their heels in the dense timber, hoping to see a blue coat to shoot at. So far, they had seen nothing, nor had they heard the first shot.
A runner found Jamie and handed him orders. Jamie was to take his Marauders over to a stand of timber not far from Mitchellâs Ford and throw up a line. Beauregard suspected something was up.
Something sure was.
Just moments after Jamie and his Marauders got into place, after having circled wide and come up from the south, Tyler exceeded his orders and decided to take the town of Manassas. His thinking was that since the Rebels seemed to be in full retreat, why not take advantage of it and forge on ahead. It would be quite a feather in his cap.
That decision not only got the plume in Tylerâs hat shot off, it almost cost him his life.
Since his men were going to be engaged in regular army field tactics for a time, Jamie had taken the rifles from the dozen captured Yankees and passed them out to his best shots. The rifles were British Enfield rifles, which could use the American .58 caliber bullet and could fire farther and with more accuracy than the shorter barreled carbines.
âWhen they come into range are they fair game, Major?â one of Jamieâs men asked.
âAs far as Iâm concerned they are.â
The snipers looked at one another and grinned.
Tyler was at that time giving orders to send several companies of the First Massachusetts forward and at the same time ordering several twenty pounders to open fire where he suspected Rebel artillery to be hidden in the thickets. He also ordered two other companies of infantry to seize and hold a wooded area that lay off some distance from the suspected Rebel artillery battery. He had no way of knowing that Jamie and his men were in those woods waiting. The batteries commenced firing as the two companies began advancing on the hidden positions of the Marauders.
Jamie told his men to open up.
Twelve Rebel riflemen fired, and ten Union soldiers went down, four of them dead and the others badly wounded.
Tyler ordered the companies back and into cover. He looked toward the timber, confusion in the glance. Then his gaze was averted as the First Massachusetts came under heavy fire from Rebel snipers far to the right side of Jamieâs position.
Tyler not only ignored his orders, but threw all caution to the wind and ordered his men to take the
Dupree grinned. âThe Yankees are takinâ the bait, Major. It wonât be long now.â
Jamie looked toward a black spiral of smoke. âBeauregardâs set the Orange and Alexandria Railroad Bridge on fire. Fall back, boys.â
Beauregard had given orders to his troops at Fairfax Court House to leave food still cooking on the fires, giving the Yankees the impression they were so frightened they had fled without eating. The Union soldiers were jubilant. They ate the hot food and sang victorious songs with their coffee. Their jubilation was to be short-lived.
The Union general, McDowell, was giving conflicting orders to his commanders and being forced to rethink his strategy every hour or so. Nothing was working out as he had planned. He had reached Fairfax Court House expecting to find another of his generals, Heintzelman, waiting for him. But now he had no idea where General Heinzelman might be (Heinzelman and his men had been slowed down to a crawl by the dense brush and poor roads). McDowell was also beginning to suspect a trap. He had just learned that Centerville had been abandoned by the Rebels and also that all along the Rebel line the Confederates were pulling back. That seemed very odd to him.
McDowell ordered another of his generals, Dan Tyler, to ride through Centerville at first light to check out the situation. And McDowell also gave him firm orders not to engage the enemyâjust check it out and report back with his findings.
Jamie and his two companies of Marauders had pulled back as ordered and were cooling their heels in the dense timber, hoping to see a blue coat to shoot at. So far, they had seen nothing, nor had they heard the first shot.
A runner found Jamie and handed him orders. Jamie was to take his Marauders over to a stand of timber not far from Mitchellâs Ford and throw up a line. Beauregard suspected something was up.
Something sure was.
Just moments after Jamie and his Marauders got into place, after having circled wide and come up from the south, Tyler exceeded his orders and decided to take the town of Manassas. His thinking was that since the Rebels seemed to be in full retreat, why not take advantage of it and forge on ahead. It would be quite a feather in his cap.
That decision not only got the plume in Tylerâs hat shot off, it almost cost him his life.
Since his men were going to be engaged in regular army field tactics for a time, Jamie had taken the rifles from the dozen captured Yankees and passed them out to his best shots. The rifles were British Enfield rifles, which could use the American .58 caliber bullet and could fire farther and with more accuracy than the shorter barreled carbines.
âWhen they come into range are they fair game, Major?â one of Jamieâs men asked.
âAs far as Iâm concerned they are.â
The snipers looked at one another and grinned.
Tyler was at that time giving orders to send several companies of the First Massachusetts forward and at the same time ordering several twenty pounders to open fire where he suspected Rebel artillery to be hidden in the thickets. He also ordered two other companies of infantry to seize and hold a wooded area that lay off some distance from the suspected Rebel artillery battery. He had no way of knowing that Jamie and his men were in those woods waiting. The batteries commenced firing as the two companies began advancing on the hidden positions of the Marauders.
Jamie told his men to open up.
Twelve Rebel riflemen fired, and ten Union soldiers went down, four of them dead and the others badly wounded.
Tyler ordered the companies back and into cover. He looked toward the timber, confusion in the glance. Then his gaze was averted as the First Massachusetts came under heavy fire from Rebel snipers far to the right side of Jamieâs position.
Tyler not only ignored his orders, but threw all caution to the wind and ordered his men to take the
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